Chapter Five: Sharp Shadows, Quiet Steps
Part Six – The First Thread Rewinds
Date: Apris 2, Year 204 PCR – Pre-dawn
Location: Central Doctrine Echo-Triage Node – Caervale Subline
They didn't know what they were looking for.
Only that they were told to find it.
The Directive Order came at 02:17 local Veilsync.
Stamped with high-priority clearance from Councilor Rethel's branch.
"Untraceable glyphcast anomaly.
Reverse-pulse registration.
Possible connection to Archive Fragment R-Null.
Deploy a discreet retrieval unit. No alerts. No reports."
So they sent a small team.
No warcasters.
No Veil scientists.
Just two tracewalkers and a postburn handler named Isen.
He was tall. Greying at the jaw. The kind of Doctrine field agent who didn't speak unless the hum made him.
He stepped through the ridgegrass near the Staccato stronghold perimeter and knelt.
No flare.
But the soil was wrong.
Still warm.
Still echoing.
He touched his scanner to the ground. Waited.
No standard reading came back.
Just three pulse fragments:
– Initiation flare: Unknown
– Glyph type: [CLASSIFIED – Vault Locked]
– Signature: …drift…
Isen frowned.
Drift?
He scrolled back, reloaded the sequence.
Signature: Drift.
Hum profile: Dual-layered cast. Non-Doctrine resonance.
Glyph origin: Unlisted.
He tapped his communicator.
"Control, this is Trace Walker Three. Confirmed glyph residue. Unregistered."
The reply crackled back.
"Was it cast?"
Isen stared at the soil.
"No."
He hesitated.
"Not recently."
Control went quiet.
Then a new voice came through—static-filtered, low.
"Did it answer you?"
Isen blinked.
"…No."
"Then it's not meant for us."
Click.
Line dead.
—
He stood slowly.
Looked out across the tree line.
The ridge held no light.
But the hum lingered.
Low. Warm. Measured.
Like something beneath the world was rewinding.
Not breaking.
Not casting.
Just remembering the shape of its own name.
Isen turned back toward the transport.
Paused once.
Looked down.
And whispered:
"We're late."
Then left the field behind.
The glyph didn't flare.
But it hummed once as he vanished from view.
Like it had waited long enough for someone to notice—
and now it would wait no more.